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To say Chase Rice is ready to release new music is an understatement. Announced just weeks ago, the Tar Heel State native has inked a new label deal with Broken Bow Records, is putting the finishing touches on his forthcoming album, Lambs & Lions, and is now proud to announce its release date — September 29. Adding fuel to the fire he started with the release of his debut album, Ignite the Night, by bringing in producers Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, James Bay, Modest Mouse, Norah Jones), Ross Copperman (Dierks Bentley, Brett Eldredge, Keith Urban) and Mac McAnally (Jimmy Buffett, Sawyer Brown) to join Ignite the Night collaborator Chris DeStefano, Rice is expanding upon the reflective nuances found in his crowd-favorite “Carolina Can” with his sophomore 10-song collection. “Three Chords & The Truth,” available today, serves as the first taste of what’s to come from the music maverick.

Written with Ross Copperman, Jon Nite and Rice, “Three Chords & The Truth” came out of one of Rice’s first co-writes after feeling the despair of a second failed single after feeling the success of two prior Top 5’s.

“I’m not sure I’ll ever know the full reason why I had to struggle through two failed singles in a row after such an amazing start, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. God had my back the whole time, whether I knew it or not. Out of those failed singles I got ‘Three Chords & The Truth.’ I was fed up with trying; whether that was trying to be something I’m not, trying to make music that people said I should make or trying to make music I felt people wanted to hear. Instead I decided I’m going to make music that I needed to hear. When you go through tough times the truth always has a way of finding its way to you. This song was my truth. It’s the soul of my childhood, the songs that went along with it and the memories associated with those songs. It’s my heart waiting to be heard, and the songs that shaped it, especially in the third chorus,” divulges Rice.

It’s Muscle Shoals to rock ‘n’ roll
It’s a steel guitar that steals your soul
It’s a country song that takes you home again

“I’ve mentioned my soul previously. Now more than ever, I believe our soul, spirit and heart are what life’s all about. At times in my life I’ve lived with all three of them completely covered by darkness, then other times completely full of life. I do know that during those darker times there are a lot of things that can pull you out, but music is among the top on that list. A lyric or a melody can hit you the right way at the right time and completely turn your life around. So when I say ‘Steel guitar that steals your soul,’ I’m not throwing that lyric in lightly. No, I mean when a song hits you so hard it rips emotions out that sometimes we try and cage in, and the benefit of that emotion finally being freed can sometimes save your life. And when you hear ‘a country song that takes ya home again,’ maybe ‘Three Chords & the Truth’ will be that song for some. It certainly has brought me home, and it’s about time.”

Rolling Stone’s Marissa Moss notes, Lambs & Lions is “a chance for him to move past bro-dom, experiment with new sounds and textures, and discuss much more than just the party. It’s about finding faith in relationships and learning how to persevere when things get a little tough, and is also an emotional dip into the world of an artist who, like many of his peers, was dismissed before he could reach a lot deeper.”

Moss continues, “In modern country and Americana, ‘authenticity’ has come to mean a very specific thing – not the act of being innately true to oneself, but to a cadre of rules. Honesty, however, isn’t about having a beard and trying to be an outlaw, or throwing in some fiddle for posterity, or growing up in the right town or right state. It’s about serving the music, first or foremost. Rice will share that he wasn’t being entirely authentic on Ignite the Night, but his new songs are finally true, as he defines it, to his own unique perspective.”

Rice has been one of country music’s most exciting figures since arriving in Nashville. He co-wrote Florida Georgia Line’s megahit Diamond certified “Cruise” and his 2014 major label debut album, Ignite the Night, opened at No. 1 and yielded two Top 5 hits with “Ready Set Roll” and “Gonna Wanna Tonight,” in addition to more than 900,000 in album sales.